The auroras started glowing just hours after Earth's magnetic field was bombarded with a giant cloud of gas known as a coronal mass ejection, or CME, which erupted from the sun on Aug. 15. The collision kicked off a geomagnetic storm responsible for the northern lights, or aurora borealis.

As a statement from NASA explains, the magnetic fields surrounding Earth compress and release like a spring during a geomagnetic storm. This type of disturbance can trigger reactions that excite ions of oxygen and nitrogen in the upper atmosphere, producing electrifying bands of color in the night sky.

This diagram from the Community Coordinated Modeling Center at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, shows where auroras might have glowing as the International Space Station (ISS) flew over Earth on Aug. 19, 2014.Credit: NASA/CCMC

The same phenomenon occurs in the Southern Hemisphere, too, where it is known as the aurora australis, or southern lights. Auroras can even occur on other planets. The Hubble Space Telescope has taken pictures of swirling auroral displays of UV light in the upper atmosphere over Jupiter's north pole.

NASA models show that auroras indeed would have been visible in parts of Canada as Wiseman flew overhead Aug. 19. Photos on Spaceweather.com show that skywatchers from northern climes in Lithuania, Sweden, Michigan and Canada also had a good view of auroras from the ground.

Though the CME that occurred Aug. 15 sparked intense auroras, its impact was otherwise quite weak, according to Spaceweather.com. When aimed directly at earth, strong CMEs could potentially cause radio and power blackouts as well as disrupt GPS systems and satellites.

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Megan Gannon

Megan previously worked as a writer and editor on the national desk at NewsCore. She has a Bachelor's degree in English and art history from New York University. To find out what her latest project is, you can follow Megan on Google+.